Brothers
by Penya
Summary: There are things InuYasha has forgotten and things Sesshomaru never knew; and this has destroyed the love between these two.
1. What InuYasha Doesn't Remember

Read this or don't read my story!

_**Warning**_: If I feel like writing it, I will. If you don't like it, don't read.

If you are not 18 please don't read, I am almost absolutely positive that at some point there will be explicitly adult material, so don't get me in trouble.

To all the dumb asses who read shit they don't like for the purpose of flaming others: Notice

I did nothing to force you to read

I warned you before you read

It's rated M for a reason

You can stop reading at any time

You're a useless bother that needs to get a life

For the rest of you: I don't know what I want out of this series yet other than that I want the name theme to revolve around Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. I'm sorry if any of my idea's sound like someone else's since the series and these characters are so hot it is impossible to be completely and utterly original (if I was then I would have to plagiarize someone's story anyway to make sure everything was the complete opposite as their's) I swear it's not on purpose.

I haven't watched all the Inuyasha episodes and I haven't read the manga (only the ending and random tidbits); nor do I speak Japanese (yet *evil smile*). I try to research everything before I write about it but even if I was an expert (and true experts don't actually exist by the way) or a English professor there are bound to be mistakes, for that I apologize sincerely, but there is no avoiding that. I also apologize in advance for any Kagome/Kikyo bashing that may or may not occur as well as some most likely inevitable OOCness and lemon that may occur at any given point (I really hate OOC myself so I will do my very best not to) [again: no like = no read]

Enjoy; review or don't to your choosing. WARNING: don't tell me an idea you don't want used! My subconscious obeys no one! I would say I would love to hear what you have to say, but from people, like afore mentioned flamers, I really don't want to hear from. Don't let that discourage you, (seriously, what I think shouldn't matter to you anyway) most of you I'm sure I'd love to hear from, and please don't get offended if I don't write back (I'm incredibly lazy).

obvious: I do not own Inuyasha

* * *

_What InuYasha Doesn't Remember_

**H**e watched the boy, as had he always watched the boy. Careful never to give himself away. The boy had his pride, as did all of the noble Inu clan; he would not cake kindly to knowing how monitored his every moment was. The boy had chosen his path. When his mortal mother had died, Sesshomaru had expected to take in his half-bread brother and raise him as loyal retainer, but the boy had had _the pride_ that set him apart from other inu-bastards and proclaimed him a true son of the Inu clan. True to his father's wishes, as well as ancient tradition, he had allowed the head strong child to make his own way in the world and prove himself a power in his own right.

The boy probably never remembered the incident; he probably thought himself abandoned from the moment of Izayoi's death. It was unlikely that the hanyou understood, even if he had remembered the incident, that he _choose _to be alone. Nor would the prideful, head strong, youngest son of the late Inudaiyōkai's known children have ever guessed that he had never truly been alone. Despite all the multifarious times Sesshomaru had given himself away, never had the half-breed, nor any of the various companions he happened to be retaining at the time, ever noticed how conveniently placed his, or that of his retainers, appearances happened to be. Not once had the boy questioned how his aloof brother knew so much about various aspects of his life, or how uncanny his and his companions' luck happened to be. A simple, enfeebled excuse was all that he needed to divert all of the little hanyou's suspensions from nearing the truth. It was not his father's word that made him keep such a close surveillance on his half-brother, nor was there any such ordainment written the family ledgers. No, this compulsion belonged to this Sesshomaru and _this_ Sesshomaru alone loath as he was to admit it, even to himself. That one day, that day alone out of all in his existence, had he openly held his disgusting, half-breed brother in love. Although the young, ungrateful pup would never remember the occasion, the feel of the heart broken, tender, young body cuddled in his arms would haunt the young, noble Inudaiyokai for the rest of his life.

* * *

_memory from the day of princess Izayoi's death_

_He had been watching the young hanyou for some time. Loyal to his father's wishes, occasionally, he had checked on the pup from the shadows; assuring himself of the young half-inu's healthy development. It had not really occurred to him to check on the development of the pup's human mother other than to arrange and pay for their shelter, provisions, and safe-keeping within the local mansion where he had found the human woman after she fled from her castle with her newborn. Foolishly, he had forgotten to account for her quick passing mortal life in comparison to the hanyou's apparently yokai inherited longevity, and even worse, his yokai paced development. And so, the traitorous human whore had fallen to some mortal frailty or another and was soon confined to her room. By the time he had come again to check on his sibling the bitch had already been hidden away in her quarters, and with no desire to enter the mingle of humans on the off chance of understanding what mortal impairment would mercifully dispatch the disgusting creature from the earth, he never knew exactly what she had died of._

_The boy, and the boy alone, held his attention now. The pup was far too young, too innocent! His shinning amber eyes held not knowledge of how to protect one's self or those various depravities that roamed every conner of the earth. Simply looking at the pup anyone could see an overwhelming torrent of emotions brimming up from a never ending void inside the child; emotions whose very intensity Sesshomaru simply could not understand, and which he secretly envied. Despite the harsh ostracisation the mother and child had suffered at the hands of the humans around them, the toddler had yet to suffer true persecution or torment. Such was the life of those in the class of the much despised hanyou, and without a protector, or even with one, soon it was inevitable that he would meet with true horrors. With an inward sigh, Sesshomaru resigned himself to obtaining another bothersome retainer, and continued to watch the proceedings. After a previous incident wherein the pathetic monkeys who inhabited the mansion had thought that they were free to due as they pleased with the mother and child after they had received payment and the noble inuyokai had left, the entire town was very careful to make sure no fault could be found in what duties they owed the distant relatives to the new Lord of the East. It was due to this incident, and the humans' fear of the ominous demon lord whose interest the whore and her abomination held that they went as far as to hold a funeral for the deceased woman._

_And so it was that the princess and lover to the Mighty Inu General finally passed from this world. Sesshomaru watched the toddler's horrified incomprehensive face as the mean people who picked on him burned his mother and her few belongings until their were nothing but ashes left. At this point, the villagers, townsmen, and nobles, who had been whispering complaints throughout the arduous ceremony while each turned periodically to glare at the mourning dog-boy who dared to walk among them even if cast in his own expatriated bubble, fell silent as they came to notice the sudden appearance of the inuyokai whom stood as if he had been behind their oblivious backs for hours, which, in a way, he had, albeit not out in the open. The smell of fear and their nervous, incessant twitching was beginning to annoy him beyond belief, when he noted that the teary toddler had yet to notice his presence, so caught up was he in his sorrow. **This will not do; such a weak being is unlikely to survive as long as a century or two, even with MY protection! What was father thinking to burden me with such an impediment?** He mentally sighed, again, while retaining his perfectly stoic exposition._

_"Leave us," he ordered the mortals, confident in their compliance, and, indeed, soon he was left alone with the child. The youngster had noticed him at some point and had even made an attempt at hiding his lament. **Good**, Sesshomaru noticed in approval while noting the unmistakable tell-tail signs of heavy bawling. The puffy red eyes glared at him and a small chin jutted out past tear swollen cheeks._

_A transparent and feeble arrogance filled the small chest as he tried to hold himself with dignity before the haughty figure he faced. The boy's wish to break down and wail of the lose of his mother could be easily read, and Sesshomaru secretly found it amusing that the creature was still capable of standing. **The boy must be infinitely naive to allow others to so easily read his thoughts and emotions.**_

_He knelt before the tiny figure and looked it strait in those hypnotic, honey amber orbs. "Cry and be done with it," he ordered of the child, and watched as the toddler proceeded to do just that. Some long forgotten emotion swelled weakly within his abandoned heart until it unexpectedly overwhelmed him. Giving in to the alien reasoning he removed his cuirass, picked up the weeping babe and cradled him in his arms as he cried. (sorry about the unspecified pronouns) Another strange feeling became interposed with the first as tiny fists clutched his kimono, small creeks ran from puffy lids hidden in the cloth dampening little spots on his chest as huge sobs shook the petite body. His eyes, and, unnoticed, his heart as well, softened as he looked on the frail frame so guilelessly grasping at him for comfort._

_Some time later the near infant had cried himself out and both had composed themselves. Sesshomaru had led the boy away from the grave sight and had begun the trek that would eventually bring them to the Inu clan castle. Eventually, as he recovered from his trauma the child became extremely animated in voice and body, alternately divulging his every secret to the idol who lead him and running around in some sort of fantastical play that once again secretly amused the supposably apathetic high yokai lord._

_Eventually, they made camp and Sesshomaru killed a squirrel for the child and ordered him to eat._

_"You are at a cross roads in your life," he began as the civilly raised hanyou worried over how to eat the raw meat with no utensils or other implements he was used to. "At this time you have the option of becoming my retainer," the impudent child interrupted him to ask what that word meant. After explaining and firmly commanding the runt not to interrupt again, he continued, "You can also choose to go off on your own and at such a time as you have acclaimed presage and power in your own right," the boy interrupted again to ask what that meant. A good hit on the head and an explanation later the child was quiet and the other continued unhindered, "if you can..." he searched for simple words, "get this then you can claim a place among the Inu clan as a true son."_

_The child was silent._

_Sesshomaru frowned, wondering what was taking the boy so long to replay. Then his heart skipped a beat._

_**Oh, Kami, no!**_

_Worse, the child had a thoughtful look scrunched into his young face. Sesshomaru had asked the question simply out of ritual, because his father had instructed him too at the time the child became an orphan, but it seemed as if the boy was going to seriously consider it. **Oh Kami, please don't let the fool think he can survive that long on his own!** He felt helpless. As of yet the child was his responsibility, but he could not make this decision for the boy, it was taboo to even try. Still, he could not help feel, that if the boy chose to go off on his own and got himself killed, as if he had failed his father once more, and he mentally begged any empathetic force that may be listening to please make the child decline the offer._

_

* * *

_

But the pup had accepted the challenge, and so Sesshomaru's habitual surveillance had been established. After some time, he had perfected the art; employing others to watch over his half-brother with instructions to not interfere with any of the hanyou's dealings unless absolutely necessary and to do so in a not just a second but third handed manner whenever possible.

The incident with the war between the dog clan and the cat clan where Inuyasha had been disposed by a human miko had caused Sesshomaru to loose all faith in the bastard. He had sent Jaken to ask the half-breed to join him at his side as part of the great Inu clan and a leader to the western forces beside his brother. He had expected his brother to finally raise and take his place beside him; so that they may fight together as true kin. When the useless imp had returned alone he had smiled at the pride and bravado of his half-brother in refusing the summons of his lord and the calling of his clan. He was infuriated when he found that the impudent half-breed that had so strongly declared his independence when still a toddler and had won his own place and name in fame and prestige was to cast his clan's name as low as to play pet to mortals. When he had sent Jaken the hanyou had earned a place in the Inu clan and was to be presented as a true son of the late Inu no Taishou with all the rights a full yokai would have been granted.

The war had changed all that. At its horrid conclusion, a horror that could have been avoided had the sons of the late Inudaiyōkai joined together in the frey, the western lord had returned to his castle and cast the bastard's name from the clan's record. _Never! Never would that traitorous wimp ever be acknowledged as part of __HIS__ family!_ Despite this seething anger, he had continued to keep watch over his the boy. Although he never freed the hanyou, as he could have easily found way to do, nor did he wake him from his sleep, still prisoner, or allow disaster to befall the prone body.

At the latest take over bide from the cats he had come to see the incident differently. His experience with Rin, who sadly reminded him of the long ago child whom had blindly fallowed him as he lead them through the forest, with her human ways and honest intensity had brought him some understanding in regards to his brother's overall thought and actions. The boy had come a long way from the toddler Sesshomaru had held in his arms as he cried over the lose of the only family he had ever known and even since his ill begotten tryst with the miko known as Kikyo. Inuyasha had learned to hide his thoughts behind a bumptious or even oblivious air, and although he was still overflowing with emotions, he could hide some behind others or simply mark them with an insidious arrogance as to confuse anyone who may have glimpsed the true motions of his heart. And it was obvious upon close inspection that the "idiot" knew far more than he let on. The Inu Dai Yokai doubted that even those close companion's of his, despite how much the hanyou genuinely loved each of them, _really_ knew the half-demon.


	2. InuYasha's Pups

_Goodbye My Love_

He was alone again. Alone in a way he had not been for far over a hundred years, since before he had met Kikyo. Miroku and Sango had built their home near the remains of Sango's old village, clearing the area of demons to make a safe place to raise their ever growing brood. Kohaku and Kirara following Sango to whatever future awaited her and to help watch over her many children. With so many demon slayers in one area refuges from demon flooded areas had decided to set up a new village around the slayers, and. although they had excepted Kirara as a sort of village pet, they were not particularly friendly towards _him_ despite his close friendship with the yokai taijiya . Kaede had long since passed from the world of the living, and Shippo seemed determined to track down and have a "tryst" with every female around his age he had met while the group had still been traveling and may very well have been half way across the world for all _he_ knew. Even the pest Myoga had deserted him; returning to Totosai's forge to spend his days beside his old colleague.

These days, the new yokai taijiya village was run by Miroku and Sango's eldest and the two no longer had the strength to leave their hut, let alone their village, even for a short soirée with close friends. Kirara had found a mate to her liking and now had kittens to occupy her time in the village. _Not that she would have been of much company to him; her interests rooted firmly on Sango and her family alone outside of her new litter._

None of this had mattered until now. Up until this agonizing moment, he had had Kagome. His love for her had filled his every waking moment. He had done his best to share his every little joy with her, to show her exactly what her love meant to him. They had been happily in love for a long time. Her tender eyes, her quick temper, the feel of her soft, downy, raven hair, he missed it all. She had lived for a long time considering she was mortal and had dwelt in the harsh environment of the feudal era. They had lived a very happy life together, but now she was gone, and nothing could change that.

InuYasha knelt before the grave of he's dearly departed love, the kotodama hanging limply from his frozen figures, rustled only by the wind. A small, pale, honey colored hand grasped his clawed hand in its tiny, plump grasp. Deep, violet eyes gazed up at him framed by wavy, raven locks. Even with his mothers facial and body structure, it was amazing how much the infant resembled his father. Sad, jaded eyes met his father's golden globs. Inuyasha clasped his son to his breast and closed his eyes against the despair that threatened to overwhelm him.

* * *

_May Evil Watch Over You_

Odile smiled at her good luck. She was so very lucky! The powerful Inu Hanyou, InuYasha, that everyone had been speaking so highly of was grieving so heavily he had yet to notice her so close to his little home. It was common knowledge that his mate had died, and as soon as they had heard her village had sent an envoy to propose potential mates for the hanyou's selection. Her clan was a much lower branch of Inu Yokai that had been banished to the mountains by the more powerful Inu Clans. It was hard and dangerous to live in the mountains, but unless her clan could become more powerful there was no way to change their situation. That is why her clan had desired to acquire InuYasha. He may have been a half-breed, but he was known all over for his strength and power. His blood connection to the current lord of the west was also in his favor. However, the abomination had very rudely _refused_ their generous offer, and had driven the envoy away. Powerful or not, he was only a disgusting hanyou, and she _would_ teach him his place!

* * *

_Sampson's Haircut_

InuYasha returned form the taijiya village with a newly washed fire rat robe. It had gotten splattered with the blood of a monstrous demon whom had decided it wanted to rampage a nearby village.

_They sure are friendly enough to me when they want something from me,_ InuYasha thought, remembering the villagers welcome when he had entered the town. They had eagerly swarmed around him then, regaling him with stories of their troubles. They had been quick enough to shoo him away as soon as the trouble had been taken care of. In fact, had Sango and Miroku not heard he was there and demanded he be treated as a guest of their village, he would have simply been kicked out of town as soon as the monster was dead.

InuYasha sighed loudly, pushing it out of his mind as he neared the house he and Kagome had shared together with their son in the forest that was given his name. It was depressing to live here now. The house seemed to silent, too cold, without her there, and memories of her plagued him in every room. He would eventually have to introduce the idea of moving to Yori. The child was still so young, only six years old, and even though Kagome had been dead for nearly a year, the little boy still did not seem to understand that his mother would not suddenly appear around the corner, back from a long trip or from some other such thing. His son was not old enough just yet to understand that death meant you would never see again see that person, that they were gone forever.

_And here I am wallowing in depressing thoughts again. _InuYasha did his best to clear his mind and drag up a smile to welcome his little boy with.

"Yori, I'm home," InuYasha called, surprised when the little boy did not shyly appear around some corner or another with his tentative little smile to welcome his father home. _Where is he? Yori doesn't just go wandering off._

InuYasha began to search for the little boy; he become more and more panicked as time passed without a sign of the little boy. His heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he picked up the sent of a stranger on the back porch. Fear flooded him as the scent mixed with that of his baby boy headed further into the forest. Rage exploded in him as he found fear mixed into the child's scent.

That's when he found Shippo. The little fox demon, now about ten in demon years, had come to live with him recently, claiming that he was needed to look after his "little brother" now that Kagome was gone because InuYasha just was not good enough to take care of a young child on his own. He had gotten a bump on his head for that one.

Shippo was unconscious, various cuts and bruises saying that he gone down fighting. A bruise near his temple testament to how the fight had ended. InuYasha tended to the kitsune until the boy woke. Shippo told him what happened between racking sobs.

InuYasha took off following the scent with the crying kitsune clinging to his back. Who ever had taken his child would pay dearly!

InuYasha followed the scent carefully and quickly, scared that something would happen to his boy or that a storm would wipe away the trail he was following. So focused was he that he did not notice a new, recognizable scent until he was nearly before her. Even so, long black hair flowing in the wind and face upturned to the stars, the priestess had yet to notice him or, at least, she had yet to acknowledge his presence.

"Kikyo, is that you? How is this possible?" There she stood, as stalwart and stoic and ever, and as young as she had been the day she had been revived from the grave. InuYasha froze in wonder at the sight of his long lost love. It had been decades since he had last seen her, and her figure, poised before the ragging falls of the river before her, radiated as majestic an aura as ever. But, it had been a long time since the days when he would have been moved by such a thing.

"As a spirit, it seems I am, theoretically at least, immortal.

"Ironic, is it not, that at such a point in time, if we so desired, we could spend the rest of eternity together." She turned slowly to him, her dead, emotionless eyes passing right through him, as if ever gazing into the ever after she had been so immorally ripped from, the here after she belonged in and longed to return to.

Looking into her eyes, InuYasha was struck with the image of his boisterous, lively, and forever lost love juxtaposed over the physically familiar body of the woman she had been reincarnated from.

_Sad, that now that we have lost all desire, all passion, that it is possible for us to be together. The earth truly is a cruel place to impose such suffering on its children._

"My time is long past," she was focusing on him now, well, as much as she could focus on anything since being ripped from the peaceful embrace of the afterworld.

"Send me to rest, InuYasha. Make me fade." There was an intensity to her gaze that one rarely saw even when she had been alive. The angst made his heart ache in sympathy, but there were more important things on his mind.

"I'm sorry, Kikyo, but I don't know how. Magic and such just isn't my thing, you know, and I'm sorry, but there are more important things I have to do right now. Some bastard ran off with my baby, and I have to find them as soon as possible. That's most important to me right now." He could not look her in the eyes, not only because he was sorry to disappoint her but also because the worry for his son was taking his attention. The scent dissipated at the river bank before them.

_Damn! They must have used this river to cover their scent; it's going to be very difficult to find them now! Fuck! I don't have this kind of time! _Worry and disrepair alternately weighed him down. He could not loose Yori! Yori was everything to him now; he was all he had left, all he had to live for.

"That is too bad," she said stoically, "I was inclined to make a deal." She had began to walk away before he understood what she had implied.

"Wait! What do you mean? Do you know what happened to Yori?" His voice was raised loud enough to echo down the stream bed.

"I saw gray dog demon headed down carrying a small child some time past; with the right directions you may even be able to catch up to them." Her eyes narrowed, "of course, my help would not be for free." Although he did not know what exactly he was agreeing to, he nodded and gave her his word.

Kikyo pointed him in the right direction, going as far as to show him the exact spot the demon had left the river before disappearing back the way she had come. But even with this help, it seemed the demon had gotten a big enough lead to make it to a fortress high into the mountains before he was able to catch up. Drawing his sword he was about to destroy the gate along with a great portion of the stone wall it sat in, when a voice from atop the wall stopped him.

"Dady!" Yori's terrified little face appeared over the ledge, tears streaking down his little cheeks. A stalwart warrior was holding his wakizashi against the boys throat. A silvering old man with a withered, forlorn expression stood beside them, a look of sorrow in his eyes. A young gray dog demon female stood next to him, a malevolent light in her eyes and an evil smirk on her lips.

"InuYasha, we have been waiting for you."

* * *

With Yori their prisoner, he was kept as their protector, their prisoner. He was sent to deal with any threat to their village, and to fight for them in any territory disputes. Soon it was known that InuYasha protected their mountain, though not many seemed to know the circumstances of why.

Each mating season they would lock him in a cavern with all of their unattached females over a century old using the powers of a coven of priestesses that had somehow become indebted to the clan. One of the females had born a daughter, whom he had named Reiko, a full blooded Inu demon. Reiko grew attached to her loving father and her adoring half brother. She may have been the product of rape, but she was still _his_ child and both InuYasha and Yori loved her deeply.

_Someday_, InuYasha thought, _someday we'll get out of this hell whole. Someday we'll be free, and then, then we can be a real family._

_

* * *

_

Sesshomaru turned his face into the wind, felt an impulse to walk, and did so. Unlike humans, he need not analyze why he did things or even decide what to do. Like any true demon, he simply acted, apathetic of the world around him. He did, because it felt so to do it, not because he cared, not because it was logical, simply because it seemed as if fate would have him do it, and Sesshomaru was never one to run from fate. He overcame it, he did not avoid its inevitability.

Unlike his half-blood brother, there was no "demon" inside of him. He was the demon; that was all there need be. He decided his own path, and was influenced by nothing but his own whimsy.

The thought suddenly popped into his mind. _My brother has been away too long. It is time he __come back_. And, so it would be, not because he had forgiven his brother, not because he wished to make amends, and not because the Hanyo had earned his place in the InuYokai Clan. Life was far more straight forward for a true demon than it was for their weak, mortal counterparts.

"My Lord! Wait for me!" The annoying, duck footed green imp scrambled after him.

_Then again, maybe that is not so._

_

* * *

_

Sesshomaru called for a report from the vassal he had in charge of watching over his brother. When the demon arrived and delivered his report, the Inu Tai Yokai's eyes flashed a blood red in rage.

"Tell Cerberus to prepare an 'envoy' to my dear cousins. You will leave at first light." With a nod, the man was gone.


	3. Sesshomaru's Weakness

_Sesshomaru's Weakness_

It had been a few years after Inuyasha's gang had settled into their new lives after Naraku's death that he had set out on a journey to find a suitable mate to bare his pups. Unlike human's there was no problem among yokai with unattached matings. His own father and mother had been a loose relationship, and after he was born this had not changed. Not all demons mated for life; in fact, very few ever did and those few who did were bound to each other only by their desire to be together. Sesshomaru had waited long enough. Although he was still young for a demon lord, he saw no reason to wait for age to set in before creating his desired heirs. Sesshomaru is what we would have called an untraditional demon. While most demons saw no reason to act any different than the ancestors before them had Sesshomaru liked to think of himself as significantly more intelligent than the others. He would _not_ allow emotion to rule him. He was going to think his actions through logically, using the cold logic of those who knew they had ages to come to a conclusion, before acting in any way. There was more than one way to gain power and to loose it; the size of one's clan was a major factor in many power struggles. He had proven himself to be a great power in his own right, and so there was no longer any reason he should wait. His brother was settled for the time being, and _he_ wanted pups.

It was difficult for him to find a mate. Not only were most Inu yokai too interbreed with humans to be strong enough to even survive a mating with him, but his desire to find a female Inu demon that was willing to have a temporary relationship with him for a few seasons only and then relinquish her pups made finding the right mate an extremely arduous task. It had taken a few years, in fact, for him to find the right demoness, powerful enough to have full yokai offspring and willing to give up any children produced by their parring into his care. He had taken to meeting with her every mating season for some years until she had decided that she was no longer content with their casual relationship nor with relinquishing her young to him. That is when he had left. She had probably expected him to accept her in a more tangible pairing, since, as far as she was concerned, there was no reason for him not to.

Sesshomaru had felt a small amusement at the stupefied expression she had dawned when her demands had been acknowledged with a nod, and he had turned and walked right back out of her minka, silently closing the worn sliding door behind him. His progeny was what he wanted, and while he could have liked to have added even more to his brood, he had what he wanted from her already. He had his pups and he would share them with no one.

Sesshomaru looked down at the sleeping figure with a frustration he was sure the child had been sensing between them, making the situation all the worse. This was his first born, his heir, his precious son, and he was loosing him. The boy did not look upon _him_ with the respect _he_ had felt for his own father. Instead of working hard to gain the approval of his father, the boy _feared_ him. It had gotten to the point that when even so much as Sesshomaru's _name_ was mentioned the boy became quiet and anxious. His son nervously threw himself into his studies so that the Inu Tai Yokai could find no reason to fault in his son's progress. The situation was the same with all the rest of his pups. He found himself experiencing emotions he had not had to deal with since the day his father had died. Only with the Great Dog Demon General had he ever strived for someone's approval, and now he found himself praying for anything that could bring him closer to his children, anything that would let his little ones know that although he was a stoic person and never showed his emotions openly he really did love them. Never before had he loved anything with the passion and devotion he felt, but could not show to his children, and he was willing to go to drastic lengths to regain his children.

The child turned over in his sleep and snuggled deeper into his pillow, and Sesshomaru's heart clenched.

For _them_ he would put aside all his past grievances, forgo revenge, even turn contempt and resentment to good will, if possible. If there was so much as a chance that his insurgent brother could bring his children back to him he would sanctify his disreputable sibling.

Sesshomaru picked up his sleeping pup and snuggled the little bundle in his arms. A sudden idea struck him that perhaps his mother would be able to help him. Sure, she had not been a great maternal figure to him; for the most part she had left it to his father and retainers to raise him. But, he never remembered being afraid of her, and he had heeded her words as a child, listening to what she had to say even now on the rare occasions that they met. With his son wrapped in his arms he headed towards the wing of his mansion that his mother was currently staying in.

Inu Taishou no Haigusha was sitting before the mirror of her armoire when Sesshomaru entered her room.

"My son," she said, turning to face him. "It is a delightful surprise to see you. How may I be of service to the new lord of the west?"

Now that he was before her, Sesshomaru could think of nothing to say to her. He could not ask. He was turning to leave when his mother called back to him. "Shall I tell you a story. I never did tell you them as a child; though, I heard you read enough on your own. I think you'll find this story interesting." He looked back at her.

"It's a secret I don't believe your father ever intended for you to know." And with that, she had him.


	4. What Sesshomaru Never Knew

_What Sesshomaru Never Knew_

_-Prier to the death of the Inu no Taishou  
__the birth of the Inudaiyokai's heir-_

_ "Are you sure?" A nodd._

_ "And there's no avoiding it?"_

_ "I'm afraid not."_

_ "What of **him**? You said there was another path when it came to him. Can we not walk that one instead?"_

_ "Perhaps, but that road may very well lead to the same or even worse conclusions than the others." The great lord paused and considered his options. His heir had been born but hours ago and already great portents whispered in his ear. Life would always be embedded in death, destruction, and chaos, but the only other time he had felt the coming of such evil had been when he had peered into a future where the cat general had come to rule all the lands. Every path he could see lead to painful horrific futures where his son suffered over and over, never knowing happiness, before dying a lonely and unfulfilled death._

_ But there was one path that the seer could not see. The creation of a catalyst that as a person would be nothing more or less than any other but whose very existence would disturb destiny on a monumental scale, although it was unlikely anyone but he and the seer would ever know. This catalyst was the only hope of his son's salvation, and all _he_ had to do was ensure the child survived the day of its birth._

_

* * *

_

"It seems like keeping the child alive past birth was quite a bit harder than it had seemed." Sesshomaru's mother picked back up her comb and continued to slide it through her silken, silver hair. "Did you not ever wonder why I stayed as your father's mate while allowing my position to be usurped by some human woman your father had taken a fancy to?" She was paying more attention to her mirror than to him now.

"It was for your sake, my child, so I payed to heed to it. Your father and I never had an emotional bond between us, so it was no boon to allow him to play with his human while remaining mated to me. Inuyasha was the result," she looked at the pup curled up in his arms, "and it seems he played his role well. Although, I do have to admit your father did hold unnecessary emotions for the woman and for her half-blood. However, the necessary cataclysm took place, his purpose has been served, and that is all that matters."


	5. Escape

_Escape_

Inuyasha was trying very hard to control himself as he was garbed and decorated like some high class doll. The locks framing his face were braided and decorations added. He was dressed in a gaudy robe and adorned with ornaments that made him feel like a high class whore.

When he was finished, he was brought into the great meeting room and made to sit on the floor beside the chieftain. It seems like the Haiiro Inu Can had pulled out every single bit of glitz they possessed. Whoever this emissary was, obviously they were very important. What InuYasha cared about, however, was that for the duration of the meal they would hold in honor of this guest, Yori, Reiko, and he would all be together. For a few precious moments his family would be able to be together.

First, this meeting would have to take place, and he would be flaunted before their guests for the amusement of that bitch that was the chief's daughter, Odile.

The emissary was another inu demon, a black inu demon. The members of the yellow inu demon clan seemed to cower in fear of this "emissary". And, InuYasha would very much like to know how this man had made them tremble so. They would never have dared to ensnare _this_ demon as they had him. Though InuYashsa was not sure if they feared this man or his "master" more, not that he was paying enough attention to know whom this "master" was. He did notice that the black demon seemed to be watching him, and that the chief was expending much effort to avoid talking about him.

There was a moment of peace when the chieftain sent everyone to the meeting hall, where they had set up tables and chairs as best they could to serve as a massive dining hall. InuYasha sat anxiously waiting for "Yori" and "Reiko" to arrive with "Shippo". When they had first heard of the coming envoy, Shippo had brought word to Kikyo. As soon as they were all together they were going to escape. Shippo's tricks had grown more advanced as he grew older. Shippo was to send three simulacrum, one of each child to the dining hall as they escaped. If they ran into any trouble the simulacrum would disappear, and InuYasha would cause a distraction with his own escape.

InuYasha was studiously focused on the simulacrum, just as he would be if it had been the real children sitting there, when the visiting demon, Cerberus, entered.

"You would dare keep a demon of my lord's blood, even a hanyou, as your servant," his voice was quiet but angry. InuYasha was confused, surely they were not talking about _him_.

"Of course not, sir," Odile oozed at the envoy. "InuYasha is here of his own free will. Aren't you InuYasha."

Oh, he was going to enjoy this. "Hell no, bitch." Odile reeled as if struck.

The simulacrum vanished, and InuYasha drew the Tetsusaiga and destroyed the western wall of the building. "See ya, bitch."

The little Inu family ran down the slope of the mountain quickly, InuYasha nearly dragging his part human boy along at his side. Reiko swiftly passing from the base of one tree to the next in a controlled plummet down the steep descent. Shippo throwing his now advanced fox demon tricks out behind them to cover their flight. Arrows rained around them giving their escape a surreal feel. He could feel the power of Kikyo's arrows passing over head, and he felt when the arrows began to pass through her body and the covens power began to destroy the threads that held her to this world. Her surprisingly bright flame finally blew out, and, gracefully, she fell, disappearing before she hit the ground.

InuYasha forcibly turned his mind from it, shredding his emotions and tossing them into the furthest corner of his mind possible. The pups were all that mattered now. From that very moment on his children were all that could matter in his life. They would be his reason for existence, as they had been for quite a while.

Their extraordinary luck did not hold out forever. An arrow took Yori in the calf, another in the chest as he fell, and the boy fell with a scream. InuYasha turned with an incredible show of flexibility he had not had even in his days protecting Kagome. Swinging the boy onto his arms, he began leaping down the mountain edge haphazardly fast. Their desperate fight was cut short just as they were to reach the shielding canopy of the thick forest. An arrow took InuYasha in the side of his chest, piercing clean through. The force of the blow knocked him off course just enough that he missed his intended mark and broke his leg in the next awkward landing. Two more arrows took him in the back, followed by one in his collarbone.

The little family limped into the tree cover, and took assessment of each other. Yori was in terrible pain and needed a healer badly. Inuyasha could have used one too, had he felt like taking notice of the extent of his own injuries. Reiko had injured her arm badly and was dizzy with blood loss and was being examined by her adoptive kitsune brother. Shippo had somehow managed to avoid any major injury.

Thinking quickly so as to get all of them to safety before they had time to notice the extent of either his or Yori's injuries and panic, InuYasha appraised their situation. Yori needed a healer immediately, and Reiko needed rest. Although she had an amazing stamina, even for a Yokai child, she was still young and tired easily. Shippo, too, was beginning to struggle.

"Shippo, I want you to take Reiko to the Taijiya village Miroku and Sango built. You'll be safe there. Reiko's arm needs attention; get there quickly," but InuYasha was too late. Reiko had taken notice of her father and brother's injuries and he could see the growing fear in her widening eyes as well as the hear the increasing volume of their pursuers. "GO! Shippo, TAKE HER AND GO, NOW!" Shippo turned sad eyes toward his adoptive father and turned away choking on a sob, and swept up the horrified little girl as both their eyes began to water.

Shippo disappeared beyond the canopy, a struggling and screaming Reiko on his back, tears poring from her grief stricken eyes.

InuYasha stumbled on.

* * *

Sesshomaru looked upon the two bodies lying on the foliage of the forest floor, and paused.

"Tend to them." As the Imp immediately got to work, unfamiliar demons surrounded the little group. Many shouted things at him; he spent no energy on listening to them. He simply stood there unmoving and impassive, that was, until the idiots charged. He didn't bother drawing Bakusaiga, and instead, dispatched of the annoyances with his whip of light.

Sesshomaru looked back upon his half brother and nephew and waited for a whim to decide his course of action. He looked at his brother lying on the ground, then down at the pups clinging to his legs. He understood what his father had meant now. Indeed, he did now have something he wished to protect, his children. And Inuyasha? Perhaps, at least for now he would take the hanyou with him.

* * *

_Family?_

In days gone past he would have woken up screaming a challenge to his unfamiliar surroundings. At that point he would have expected enemies and an attempt to capture him, and he had awoken in such a way that he would have found what he expected. His yell would have alerted the guards to danger and upon finding him they would have attempted to subdue the powerful, enraged, rampant half-demon. In the years he had spent with Kagome in family life he had become far less bombastic and had learned a true appreciation for serenity. Since Kagome's death, his characteristic energy had become more subdued, and since his recent torment, he had become almost dispassionate.

Despite all these drastic changes to his personality, it was raising Yori and Reiko that had taught him what true serenity could be, and this that had changed him the most. When he awoke in his brother's castle, he was not bothered by the unfamiliar surroundings nor did he care why he was there. Passing his brother in the hall he simply walked by without issuing threats, accusations, or demands for answers to his questions.

_ Days gone by, the little whelp couldn't have gone a single day without yelling, and we could not have been within one hundred feet of each other without his issuing a challenge to me._ Sesshomaru lifted and eyebrow then continued on his way.

InuYasha found Yori reclining on some blankets and pillows in the garden, a sheet covering him from waist down. He could smell no pain, fear, sickness, or any other cause for concern on the boy, and something inside his chest unclenched. The boys dreary eyes settled on his father and lightened with a soft delight. InuYasha sat down next to the boy and, in response to the upraised arms that reached for him, cuddled the child to his chest. Now, if only he know how Reiko and Shippo were doing.

* * *

Shippo was lost. He had been unable to push back the tears fully, and they had eventually overwhelmed him, blurring his sight. Two things he new: he was not near Kaede's old village nor was he near the resurrected Taijiya village. He had left Reiko at the Taijiya village, and had then gone back to try and save InuYasha. Only, he had gotten lost along the way. InuYasha was gone, maybe dead, Yori was injured, he had left Reiko with a bunch of demon hating humans, and now he was lost in what amounted to enemy territory.

"Are you lost," a soft, feminine voice called out to him. A young woman appeared, her silver hair billowing around her ragged cloths. The fact that she was a gray dog demon frightened him for a moment until he realized that she was alone, not just right there, but that her sent was of her alone. She was only a few decades older than he was, and she was as alone as he was in that moment, more, because he still smelled of Reiko and the Taijiya village.

"Yes," he replied. Sniffing back the tears that had been about to escape him.

"Here," she said and held out her hand to him. "I caught a rabbit this morning. Would you like to share it with me?"

"Sure," Shippo replied and took the pretty lady's hand.

* * *

Late the night after he had awoken in Sesshomaru's palace, InuYasha could wait no longer to find his daughter. He had, finally, been given an audience with his brother. He had been trying to do so since the moment he had woken. No one else in the mansion had been willing to talk to him, not even the physician that had come in to check on him and Yori several times that day.

The man who had been the emissary to the Haiiro Inu Clan had finally told him that the servants did not know how to address him, and so, they would simply ignore him until their lord told them how to react to him. Cerberus, too, had refused to say anymore to him until "my lord told me what to say".

"How long was I asleep," InuYasha asked his brother. He was sitting, legs folded, on a cushion on the other side of the desk from his brother. They were in the study attached to Sesshomaru's room, the room he had woken up in.

"You were sick for nearly a week with fever. Apparently, you should not be able to use that leg right now. You have healed surprisingly fast, but the physician has said you should refrain from physical activity for at least another week. Your son should stay off his feet as well."

He motioned for a servant in the hall to join them. "I have taken the liberty of locating your daughter. She made it to the Taijiya village and is currently living with your human friends there." InuYasha sighed in relief. _Thank god, she's alright._

"I have taken the liberty of sending an envoy for her. She should be here within the week.

"I know you are also attached to the kitsune. Unfortunately, the villagers reported that he had left to look for you shortly after dropping the girl off.

"Luckily, one of my reconnaissance team, looking into the Haiiro Inu Clan spotted him in the mountains. He looked safe and healthy. I am having my people keep a lookout for him."

InuYasha was astonished, his brother had managed to cover everything of interest to him.

"For now," Sesshomaru continued, "I would like for you and your pups to stay here. I can not have lesser demons thinking they can pray on Shiiro Inu demons, even half blood ones.

"I would have you and the pups share quarters with me until the doctor says otherwise. You are to bad a patient to be left to your own devices.

"You need not worry about your pups, they will be allowed to stay with you at night, and they will be educated alongside my own children.

"If you need for anything, just ask a servant, within reason it shall be granted to you."

InuYasha was not sure how he felt about that, and before he could come up with something a loud, happy shriek from the sliding door caught his attention. With a smile, he turned to the door as it slammed open and Reiko exploded through it to land in his arms.


	6. Acceptance of the Pups

_Daddys_

InuYasha sat in the hot tube with Reiko curled up on his lap and Yori under his arm on the bench next to him. To think he would be so peaceful now, in Sesshomaru's mansion. Yet, after everything that had happened to him, it was not at all troubling. He was a guest here, not a prisoner, and he could leave at any time if he so chose. He was almost tempted to leave simply to prove to himself that he could. Reiko stirred against his chest, settling closer. No, it was not worth it. They were safe here, and his children would want for nothing. And, he would have to be here for them, as much as he was opposed to living in another castle.

He was nuzzling Yori's hair when he heard people enter the changing room. Sesshomaru opened the sliding door, his eldest, Saku, following meekly behind him. InuYasha nodded at his half brother then went back to nuzzling his children. The hanyou noticed that the young inu lordling was stiff and nervous, almost scared, as he got into the water to bathe. Saku did not settle down any until Sesshomaru finally laid back, faining, sleep. InuYasha had never seen his brother in repose, and noticed how oddly mesmerizing his brother could be. Swift on the heels of that thought came the realization that his nephew did not know his father was faking his little "nap". The boy was suddenly more relaxed, the sent of anxiety dissipated; he sat down on the bench with a sigh. Saku nodded towards InuYasha respectfully, which the half-demon returned in kind. When the boy looked at Reiko and Yori, both asleep snuggled up against his chest, something dark flashed in the boy's eyes. It was gone to fast for InuYasha to identify, but it left him worried, not just for his own children , but for the boys sake as well.

"Good evening, Lord InuYasha," the boy greeted him formally. The older dog demon winced.

"Just InuYasha please. I'm not much for formality."

The boy seemed slightly nervous now, and glanced in his fathers direction while bitting his lip. "It would be impolite to address one's elders without title, Sir."

"Again with the formality!" InuYasha cuffed the boy, lightly, on the side of the head. "InuYasha's a nice name, and it soots me just fine. If you have to be calling me something else, you can call me uncle, or uncle InuYasha. Got it?"

The boy just blinked up at him, both hands holding the bump on his head. InuYasha raised his fist again.

"I got it! I got it," the boy yelled at him and then pouted at him. InuYasha knew from experience with Reiko that sometimes a good pout was exactly what a child needed, and sometimes it was hard to deal with a child who did not get opportunity to _act_ like a child. The hanyou decided to try a trick he used with Reiko to get her to cheer up.

"What's that on your face," he asked the boy, his nose stuck arrogantly up in the air. The boys hands flew to his face. Then he scowled.

"I have not got anything on my face! I washed thoroughly before entering the soaking pool; I know how to bathe," he seemed much offended in his little toddler way.

"Have to," InuYasha baited him.

"I have not!"

"Have to!"

"Have not!"

"Oh! Then what's this?" He grabbed the boys nose in between two fingers. Putting his thumb between the fingers he taunted the boy. "I've got your nose! I've got your no-ose!"

The boy shrieked. "Give it back! Give it back!"

Lunging at the offending hanyou, Saku jostled Reiko awake. With a shriek of her own she fell below the water. Coming back up she grabbed the boy and dunked him below the surface. InuYasha splashed the girl when they came back up, and soon a water fight was started.

Yori, not wanting to take part in the grappling went over to the quiet part of the pool, where Sesshomaru continued to "snooze", watching the fight through slitted eyes.

"You can look if you want, you know," the boy told his half uncle. "Don't worry they're all too busy to notice what we do." He sat back down next to the lord. Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at the boy, then turned to watch the tussle.

When all of the participants where panting too much to continue the fight, InuYasha gathered the two children to him and cuddled them against his chest. Exhausted, both pups fell asleep against him without taking note of their audience. InuYasha did though, and he saw the strange look in his brother's eyes as he watched Saku snuggle up against his half brothers chest and fall asleep. He also noticed how close Yori was to his brother, and that Sesshomaru did not seem to mind.

_What a strange day_, he thought, then, proceeded to fall asleep himself.

When InuYasha roused himself to put the children to bed he found himself with a problem. He had three little bodies snuggled up against him, and only two arms to carry them. Pondering possible solutions he finally noticed the arm across his shoulder, Sesshomaru's arm. Time was he would have shot up fighting. In the interests of the little ones cuddled up to him he settled for glaring at his brother. Sesshomaru did not notice. His attention was riveted to the small form in the crook of his half brother's left arm. His arm was thrown over the hanyou's shoulders so that he may rest his hand on the child's hair without his presence rousing the boy. The look in the Inu Tai Yokai's eyes was full of soft, lost, loving things. InuYasha was almost convinced he was looking at someone else. He had never seen his brother display emotion so openly, let alone such soft feelings.

InuYasha was just staring at his brother when Sesshomaru began to whisper in his ear. The soft fluffy ears on top of the hanyou's head. He was doing it so that he may speak to his brother while watching his son's sleeping form, all without waking the children. But, the warm soft breath on such a very sensitive spot distracted InuYasha from anything his brother had said. Sesshomaru frowned and leaned back to look at his little brother. He noticed the hitch in the half demon's breathing, the blush reddening his face, the soft pant in the hanyou's breathing.

Intrigued, Sesshomaru breathed against the back of a sensitive ear. InuYasha's head went back, his eyes closed. His half brother was so very sensitive, and quite a beautiful view as well.

"I, I need to put the children to bed," the hanyou stammered.

"Of course," Sesshomaru replied. Noticing his brother's dilemma, he picked up Yori and was surprised when the child snuggled up against him. _Is the child's human blood so strong he has not the senses to notice that __**I**__ have picked him up?_

Despite his unflattering thoughts towards the child, Sesshomaru enjoyed the feel of the child coddled in his arms as he followed InuYasha to the bed room that adjoined his privet bath. He was disappointed when he had to put the child down on the bed. It was only after he had done so that he realized that they had set the children down on _his_ bed and not the futon that InuYasha had been sharing with his pups on the floor.

"They should stay together, I noticed that the children sleep better in a big puppy pile than they would otherwise," InuYasha explained when Sesshomaru looked at him. Sesshomaru was still looking at him as his half brother dressed for bed and lay down on his pallet, alone, on the floor.

"The children will not except my presence. They will have bad dreams if I sleep too near." Sesshomaru would not look at his brother. "I would very much like to join their, group, but I do not believe that will be possible. You should take my bed." Sesshomaru's voice was his emotionless best, but there was no way to hide how he felt on such an emotional topic.

InuYasha snorted, "that's rediculous. Go to bed."

Sesshomaru sighed and raised an arm over the sleeping forms. Immediately, Saku began to whimper and whine.

Inuyasha was shocked. "But, he didn't do that in the hot spring."

"The water helps to dampen my sent, and I believe your presence had something to do with it." The Inu No Taisho was suffering, anyone could have seen it in that moment. To think such a tiny person could impose so much pain on his imperial half brother.

No matter what their past may have been, when InuYasha had needed it most, Sesshomaru had been there. He had saved his and Yori's lives. He had given InuYasha and his pups a home when they were in desperate need of safety. InuYasha understood the dept he was in, and here was a chance for him to start paying it back.

"Come on, lets see if they're alright with you staying on the other side of the bed."

They ended up with InuYasha wrapped around one side of the children's puppy pile with Sesshomaru spooned against his back to be as close as possible to the children without imposing his proximity on them. For the first time, Sesshomaru was able to cuddle with his son; he fell asleep peacefully content.

* * *

_Sometimes they Need You to Protect them from **Your** Nightmares_

Something was wrong. Sesshomaru could not quite tell what it was that had woken him, but whatever it was had roused the children as well. Saku's face showed the bewilderment his father felt, but the other two pups where gazing at their father with tears in their eyes. Reiko was trying to shake her father awake. Sesshomaru looked down at his half brother, and it was not InuYasha he saw. The form curled up on the bed _looked_ very much like the hanyou, but InuYasha did _not _cry, let alone whimper, mewl, and whine. He had never so much as smelt the salty liquid on his brother that now poured down his swollen cheeks.

Sesshomaru was lost. What was wrong with InuYasha? What was he supposed to do? What _could_ he do?

Reiko began to sob. Saku's pleading eyes burned a whole in his heart. Yori had turned his back to them, but his body shook with suppressed tears. Desperate, Sesshomaru did to InuYasha what he remembered his father doing for him, oh so very long ago, when he had been young enough to have nightmares. Raising the hanyou's head with one hand, he swept the hair away from the soft creamy flesh, and bending down he sank his teeth into the tender skin of his brother's neck. Shaking InuYasha gently by the neck he growled so that the sound would reverberate down the half demon's spine.

_You are mine. You are safe. _Around his father, Sesshomaru had always felt that way. Now he gave that sense of belonging, of safety, that his father had given to him, to InuYasha. _You belong here, and you will be protected._

InuYasha quieted and fell back into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

When Sesshomaru woke up next he was covered in warm bodies. InuYasha's hip was thrown over one of his legs, his arm across his elder brother's chest. Saku lay half across InuYasha's back and half on one of his father's legs. Yori was tucked under one of his arms. Reiko under the other had one fist twined in her father's white velvet hair. Never before had Sesshomaru awoken in such a way. He lay quietly, enjoying the feel of it.

That was, until InuYasha's hip went a little two high, and abruptly reminded him what time of year it was. Spring, and Sesshomaru had no mate to relieve the tension with. _This shall be a miserable few decades_, he thought, disentangling himself from the mass of bodies.

After changing into formal wear for the day, Sesshomaru went to the door to leave for his office for the day. Walking into the hall he noticed a tug on his hakama. A tiny hand was fisted in the fabric and tethered a little body behind it. Reiko was asleep on her feet as she tottered behind him. When he stopped and turned to her she let go of his cloths and raised her tiny hands up to him. For a moment, Sesshomaru had no idea what she wanted. Then it suddenly downed on him that the child wished for him to pick her up. Never had his own pups made such a gesture to him, not even Rin had done so. Bending down he gently scooped the little bundle into his arms.

Sesshomaru debated on what he should do now. Surely it would not matter if he brought the girl with him to his office. It would please him to have her cuddled on his lap as he waded through paper work. Mind made, he set off back down the hall towards the business section of his mansion.

Jaken opened the door to his office for him, stammering even more than usual. Sesshomaru strode through ignoring the little imp.

Inside the office Cerberus waited with reports on the movement of his troops in reaction to the movements of rival clan's troops and with reports on the gray inu clan that had dared imprison his brother. They were discussing options for the clan's punishment when the nanny and guard in charge of the children burst into his office and adjudicated themselves before him.

"My Lord," the guard stammered, "the young lord, Saku, is missing. He never returned after his bath with you last night." Sesshomaru could smell the fear leaking from the two spread through the room. He had never noticed that he was more violent where the care of his children was concerned, but be must be to elect such a strong response.

"Relax," he reassured them. "My son is asleep in my quarters."

"My brother is there with them," he replied to their skeptical look. The understanding that passed over the two rather than the relief that he had been expecting made him realize that the two had been worried as to why the boy had been sleeping in his room rather than worried because the boy was unattended. They had thought the boy had been hurt or something to have slept in his father's room; and, they accepted InuYasha's presence as reason enough for the boy to have fallen asleep in the room. In that moment he realized that InuYasha must have been interacting with his children before he had brought Saku to the hot spring last night. He also understood that the servants had accepted the hanyou as a sort of honorary parent to his children, and that his children must have responded in kind.

For a moment, Sesshomaru was jealous of his brother. But, then he remembered the way he had woken up this morning, surrounded by warm puppy bodies, and was grateful. Reiko chose that moment to remind him of another pleasant surprise, and to shock the servants that had just realized the girl was there.

"Me hungry," she said sitting up. "Me want food!"

"I want food," he corrected her and frowned. "What does one feed a child?" He had asked the air, but the nurse was quick to squeak a reassurance that she would bring something for the child. She and the guard stumbled in their haste to leave.

When she returned three tiny bodies had followed her, much as Reiko had him that morning. His three younger children stared at Reiko with wide eyes.

"Forgive me, Sir, the children did not wish to be left alone. I will hurry them to the nursery."

"That will not be necessary; they may stay here. If you would bring refreshments, toys, and such for them." She stared at him for a moment before pealing little hands from her skirts and bowing before she left. The toddlers waddled up to him and latched onto his pants. The oldest of the three tugged on his sleeve and pointed to Reiko, who was sitting on his lap as she munched the snacks the nanny had brought for her.

"Me too," he asked. Sesshomaru picked him up. When the nurse returned with more snacks and toys to distract the children she found her lord trying, unsuccessfully, to balance four bouncing pups on his lap as they wrestled over the last piece of ham.

She was attempting to lure the children away from him with treats and toys when InuYasha entered the office, towing a sleepy Saku and a curious Yori behind him. "Yaha," "Da," the children screamed and ran over to the hanyou, who bent down to wrestle with the children and return their hugs.

Sesshomaru was once again filled with envy as he watched his pups climb all over his brother. It was short lived, however, as Saku slammed into him, inciting the other children to start climbing all over "Dada".

He looked at his brother, then down at the pups clinging to his legs. He really understood what his father had meant when he had asked if Sesshomaru had something he wished to protect. Indeed, he did now have something he wished to protect, his children. And Inuyasha? Perhaps, certainly his decision to take the half demon and his pups into his household had been the right one. For the first time since his father had died, he felt like he was a part of a real family, and it was all thanks to his errant half blood brother.


	7. InuYasha's Remorse

Warning: Lemon (Worse) The first I have ever written...sorry

* * *

_Keeping InuYasha_

The children felt safe around him now, they accepted him. His ice cold, stoic demeanor no longer scared them. The power that had frightened them before now made them feel safe and secure. And, all of this was due to InuYasha.

From the moment InuYasha had entered his home he had caused change. The pups had taken to his, now far less, brash half sibling and his own two pups. The night he had protected the hanyou from his nightmares his first born had been cured of his fear of his father. Ever since then his pups had come to accept him little by little. The children loved his half brother, and as long as InuYasha chose to stay Sesshomaru would have a chance at being a real father to his children.

* * *

InuYasha turned his face away from the wind. Spring was well along now, and the urge to mate was starting to overwhelm him. He could not do it. This year he had a choice, and he was not going to do it. After what had happened when Reiko was conceived, he had never wanted to mate again after that year. Not that his yokai gave him a choice. Soon he would no longer be able to hold that half of himself back. He would have to be confined by then. He could not let what happened that year happen again, not when there was something he could do about it.

* * *

Sesshomaru could feel the glowing contentment growing inside him as he watched the children tussle in the garden. One of his best huntsmen had been trying to teach them tracking techniques, and the lesson had somehow turned into a game of hide, catch, and chase.

The sliding door leading to his office burst open, and Jaken waddled out hurriedly. "My Lord, My Lord," he called, falling over his own feet. Laying nose planted in the ground at Sesshomaru's feet he gave his report.

"Sir," the imp squeezed out. "My Lord, it seems that Lord InuYasha has been locked in the dungeon, sir."

"Call Cerberus to watch over the children," he instructed the imp, and left to see what trouble his brother had finally gotten into.

Arriving at the dungeon, Sesshomaru called the prison guard master to attend him. "Why is my half brother locked up here? What has he done to deserve such treatment?"

"No-nothing, Si-ir. Lord InuYasha asked to be chained up here, Sir." Sesshomaru saw the man's obvious nerves and his slight embarrassment.

"I wish to see him." The man nodded and grabbed his keys from his office. The prison master lead his lord down several hallways before reaching the most secluded cell in the prison. Turning the key, he stepped back to allow Sesshomaru through.

InuYasha was stretched out chained to a mattress, completely naked, with nothing more than a sheet under him. Sesshomaru motioned for the guard to leave. When the man was gone, he looked back to digest the beatific scene before him.

Iron chains wrapped around honey tanned flesh at wrists and ankles. Taught muscles were stretched across the mattress. A single sheet beneath him was hardly enough to comfort such a grand frame. InuYasha was flushed with a heat Sesshomaru only saw on youths still in their first heat. The hanyou's breath was heavy and fast. Sesshomaru was not sure what was more stunning, his brothers impassioned face or his engorged erection. The urge to touch that fantastic flesh was overwhelming.

"InuYasha what are you doing here," he asked, towering over his half brother's prone form.

"Can't, can't," InuYasha panted, "not again. Can't do it. Can stop it now. Must stop. Can't let that happen again." The heat had taken the hanyou. It was so bad he could not even form an intelligible thought; he whimpered.

Sesshomaru recognized the rut. InuYasha would be nothing more than a brainless, lust filled beast until he had had some form of release.

Giving in to the urge to touch his brother, Sesshomaru lay his hand on InuYasha's chest. InuYasha arched into his hand. "Please, please," he begged his brother. "Please."

Sesshomaru removed most of his clothes, folded them, and set them aside. _In the interests of being able to eventually understand what is going on here_, Sesshomaru told himself. He returned to the mattress and knelt on the side.

Reaching over, he played one hand across the hanyou's aching organ. He suckled one nipple, and teased the other with his fingers. InuYasha writhed beneath him. He played his claws across the half demons stomach, raising goosebumps as he moved lower. Sesshomaru could resist no longer; he sealed his lips to InuYasha's. His tongue reached in to dance with his partner's.

Sesshomaru did not remember removing his clothes after the first time his brother came under his ministrations. Nor did he remember lubricating and stretching his brothers tight entrance. Having gone this far, he saw no reason not to finish what he had started. Especially with the way InuYasha was still begging for more.

He entered the hanyou slowly. It pleased him to find that he was the first to have his brother this way. Pushing in gently, InuYasha cried out violently as he found that sweet spot inside the Hanyou. He worked that spot until he had the half demon riding that thin edge before that delightful plunge they both so obviously wanted.

Beginning to loose his pace, Sesshomaru timed his release to come just as InuYasha came. Feeling his brothers tight passage clench around him as he spurted his cum between their stomachs, the Inu No Taisho let himself go and came inside the hanyou.

_Kami_, Sesshomaru thought, _that was better than anything I have ever __**imagined**__._

His mind had just come to another conclusion: there was no way he was ever letting InuYasha go.

* * *

_InuYasha's Nightmare_

InuYasha huddled in his brothers strong arms as he cried into the bend of his neck. "I...I," he had thought he would never tell this story to anyone, and it was hard to tell it now. Unlike hanyous, during the mating season true demons did not loose themselves to a completely different person inside them. They felt the overwhelming urge to mate, but they were their yokai. Their demons did not come out, like some sort of Jackle and Hide switch, completely obviating the consciousness that made them who they were. InuYasha, though, was hanyou, and therefore, different from his pure blooded cousins.

During the mating season, InuYasha would completely loose himself to the heat, and his Yokai would come to the fore. _He_ for all intents and purposes, would be gone for periods of time. Reiko's mother was pure blood, and therefore, did not loose herself to her baser urges unless she decided to. She had been young enough, barely a century, when she had been locked in the cavern with him during the mating season one year, that those base urges had barely begun to show. What her parents had been thinking he had had no idea. Lost in the heat, InuYasha's yokai did not realize, nor did it care, that the girl had been unwilling, that she had fought him. It cared for nothing but its own release, and it had had it.

"I _raped_ her," InuYasha told his brother. "Still a child, barely a woman, and I _raped _her. Had Yori and then Raiko not needed me so much, I would have killed myself. How could I have done it, something so utterly _evil_?"

Sesshomaru held him as he cried himself out.

"What happened to the girl," he asked when InuYasha had calmed down some.

"She gave birth to Reiko, because her parents wanted the prestige. I took in Reiko and raised her as best I could, because her mother could not bare to look at her.

"I heard she moved out of the village after that, but I've heard nothing else of her." InuYasha snuggled into Sesshomaru's arms, enjoying the feel of being held gently in his brother's lap.

"So you loose yourself to your yokai during the mating season," Sesshomaru reasoned out. InuYasha nodded. "What kept you from turning feral when you where with Kagome."

"I don't know," InuYasha replied. "Maybe I did and just never noticed because I had always had a willing mate at hand."

InuYasha leaned back to look into his brother's eyes. "So you see, you see why I have to stay here until the season is over. I can't let that happen again, I can't risk it."  
Sesshomaru licked the salt off his hanyou's swollen cheeks. "I see no such thing," he told the half demon. "I am not the Lord of the West without reason. I believe I can handle one errant hanyou, even one as powerful as you."

InuYasha caught the praise in his brother's speech, but was still to worried to ponder it.

"But," he protested. Sesshomaru silenced him by tilting his head back for a kiss.

"You lose yourself when the urge to mate overpowers you. If this urge is gratified, and it will be unlikely that you will go feral. Besides, as long as I am near I can control your demon. Your yokai should actually be easier to control than you, yourself, are. _It_ at least acknowledges my power and position." InuYasha was not sure if he should be relieved or insulted.

Then, a single thought brightened his mood. If he accepted his brother's offer he could spend his first spring in a long time with his children. It would be the very first time he would be able to pick spring flowers with Reiko, make a crown of blossoms for her. Once again he could hear the mating calls of songbirds as he took the kids out for a picnic at the first blush of spring, before the bugs came out to devour them.

"Really, you think you could handle me," he teased his brother. He laughed, Sesshomaru smiled.

"Let's go assure the children that you are fine," Sesshomaru suggested and set the hanyou on his feet. Taking his brothers hand, InuYasha allowed himself to be lead out of the prison, through the palace, and out into the gardens where the children where sharing a picnic with the disgruntled Captain of the guard.

Reiko was spitting watermelon seeds at the guard's hair as the man tried to catch Sesshomaru's three youngest children. Yori and Saku seemed to be having a debate about something philosophical, which seemed to be the only thing that Yori got animated about.

"He really does look like a slender version of you on your human nights," Sesshomaru whispered into InuYasha's sensitive ears. The Inu Hanyou shivered.

Smiling at one another they went to join the children.


End file.
